Katalepsis

Katalepsis ( _el. κατάληψις) is a term that originally refers to the Stoic philosophers and was to them, a landmark ideological premise regarding one's state of mind as it relates to grasping fundamental philosophical concepts. The Greek Skeptics (who of course chose the Stoics as their natural philosophical opposites) debated much of what the Stoics eschewed regarding the human mind and one's methods of understanding greater meanings. [See [http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/skepanci.htm "Ancient Greek Skepticism"] at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy for information about katalepsis and the Skeptics attack on it.]

Informally in modern times, it means that one has reached a state of complete understanding (regarding all things, almost literally "beyond" everything). It is also referred to extensively in the book "Darwin's Blade" by Dan Simmons, first in the context of a Vietnam era sniper (the protagonist in his earlier life) who reaches a complete killing state without conscious hindrance [albeit out of complete and proper/morally approved necessity. Essentially without negative moral or social connotation] . From then on, the author's subsequent use of the term implies that modern humans [specifically the main characters] can reach this "state of katalepsis" in any given critical situation, especially those that require mental or spiritual fortitude.

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